1909 
THE NEW-YORKER 
0© l 
Hope Farm Notes 
The Strawberry Plant pictured on 
first page was planted about the middle 
of April, 1908. During last season it 
was hoed or cultivated about 12 times. 
The runners were all cut off and the 
weeds were pulled. Late in November 
a heavy cover of manure was put on. 
The plant grew through this manure in 
1909 . A few of the large weeds were 
pulled, but no cultivation was given. On 
lime 14 I dug this plant with a spade 
and carried it to New York, where it 
was photographed as shown. On June 
16 the top of this plant was cut off and 
I brought it to the farm and planted it 
in the old place. I hope to make it 
produce another quart next year. 
The plant was put in a peach basket, 
so that the picture might show its com¬ 
parative size. We all know how large a 
peach basket is, so that this picture ex¬ 
plains that part of it in full. There were 
96 berries, large and small, on the plant, 
and we had already picked five of the 
largest. This was not the best plant 
in the field. There were many larger 
and with a heavier setting of fruit. This 
may be called a fair specimen, for I did 
not try to pick out the material for a 
“big story.” 
The Yield. —I made a test of a plot 
30 by 180 feet. There were 16 rows of 
plants, each in a hill by itself, with the 
runners cut off. The first ripe berries 
were picked June 5, and every day more 
or less were taken until the last mess of 
three quarts on July 9. On July 11 I 
picked a few scattered and poor fruit. 
The period of profitable picking covered 
about 20 days. Including what we sold, 
ate and gave away, the yield from this 
patch was about 1,250 quarts. Counting 
nit the missing places, fiilled by younger 
plants, there are about 2,400 bearing 
plants. Some of the berries were sold 
at retail and more by the crate. The 
average price was about 11 cents. The 
income from this patch, therefore, was 
$137.50, which is at the rate of practical¬ 
ly $1,100 or 10,000 quarts per acre. Now 
don’t go out and say that the Hope 
Farm man took $ 1,106 in cash from one 
acre. He did nothing of the sort. He 
had about 2,400 bearing plants on one- 
eighth of an acre. From this patch he 
sold actually about $100 worth, while 
the family ate and gave away fruit close 
to the value of $37.50. Our other ber¬ 
ries were in matted rows, and the yield 
was only one-half that of our hill patch. 
I have a letter from Mr. Kevitt in which 
lie says that 2,000 Glen Many plants 
yielded by actual count 2,363 baskets. 
That beats me, yet the Marshall is a 
light yielder, and with 10,000 quarts per 
acre one has a small fortune within 
reach. 
What About It? —I always hesitate 
to give figures about crops, because I 
cannot make people realize all there is 
back of them. It would be a source of 
regret to me if what I have written 
should induce a lot of people to rush 
in and plant Marshall strawberries on 
this system. Most of them would run 
straight to ruin. I do not wish to have 
it thought that our people are smarter 
than others, but we seem to have just 
exactly the right kind of soil for this 
variety. We have been making failures 
and trying to learn how for more than 
10 years—and that counts for more 
than you think. The plan of putting a 
plant into rich ground, keeping it clean 
and chopping off the runners seems 
asy, ljut it is the mere skeleton of the 
plan. I have known men to start brave¬ 
ly and cut the runners twice. Then 
they became disgusted, for in a wet sea¬ 
son the more they cut runners the more 
running they did. In the Fall the whole 
thing was a tangle of vines—worse than 
■any matted-row plan. This way of 
growing berries suits us, and I shall 
nlarge our operations. I shall work 
over the matted row patches by run- 
'ing lines through the center of the rows 
and cutting out all the plants except a 
straight row under the line. 
Can I grow 10,000 quarts of Mar- 
dialls on a measured acre? Yes, if I 
can have conditions to suit. I must 
have moisture enough. This year was 
fairly favorable, since we had good 
rainfalls in May. Had our present 
Irought struck us in May my yield 
would have been cut more than half. 
A e have been very fortunate thus far 
n escaping insects and strawberry dis¬ 
uses. We had some rot this year, but it 
was not serious. With insects and 
Alight and drought all at once, we should 
'll rely fail, but with favorable condi- 
ions I feel sure that I can duplicate 
die yield from our 2.400 plants on two 
icres or more. 
Can you sell the berries? 
Yes, easier than you can sell the small, 
ordinary ones. You can do better with 
0.000 quarts than with 1,000 for then 
buyers can afford to come to you. I 
know that in spite of all I can do or 
say people will be led into strawberry 
culture who never should get within 
gunshot of it. They haven’t the pa¬ 
tience to get down to the soil and dig. 
If you ever get $1,000 out of an acre, 
you will find every dollar of it so moist 
that you can wring sweat out of it. 
The strawberry business suits our soil 
and our family. I have some four acres 
on the lower farm that seem well suit¬ 
ed to Marshall berries. I shall not 
plunge it all in at once, but go deliberate¬ 
ly and fit the soil as well as I can be¬ 
fore planting. 
From our experience with this syste in 
I would sum it up about as follows: 
I can grow more fruit and better than 
in matted rows—though this is partly 
a matter of variety. There is more 
hand work about it. The average work¬ 
man will take greater pride in this sys¬ 
tem if kept at it. Acre for acre 1 can 
double inoome by this method over the 
matted rows. It is specially adapted 
to small areas of rich soil or garden 
culture. As for disadvantages, the cost 
is greater for plants, work and manur¬ 
ing. It is not adapted to light, open 
soil. In a very dry season these big 
plants could not mature their load of 
berries. In a very wet season these same 
big plants would mat over the berries, 
causing loss by rot and other diseases. 
To overcome these troubles I would 
plant further apart, not closer than 18x 
24 inches. Another disadvantage is in 
picking. With these big plants close to¬ 
gether a careless picker will cause con¬ 
siderable loss in tramping on the green 
berries, and he will leave ripe ones in 
the thick foliage. 
Permanent Beds. —This hill system 
costs so much to start that we should 
plan to fruit our plants several years. 
I know that many authorities tell us 
we should plow up and replant after one 
or two crops. My experience does not 
justify us in following such advice. 
Berry plants are not unlike hens in one 
thing. By keeping the best of our old 
hens over we get eggs at a season when 
the pullets are idle, and many of the 
older hens lay profitably for three 
years. The older berry plants seem to 
lengthen out the bearing season and 
give us larger picking time. I shall 
set some new plants each year, but keep 
the old ones as long as they make a 
good new top and strong fruit buds. 
What after picking? 
On July 9 we began mowing off the 
tops of the plants. The object is to 
cut them back to the crown and thus 
start out a new top on the old roots. 
The old top is more likely to be dis¬ 
eased, and unless it is out of the way 
the new top could not sprout out so well. 
The growth of the new top stimulates 
a new development of root and also 
a new crown with fruit buds. There¬ 
fore I cut the old top at once after 
fruiting. As peach trees have been 
planted in some of our beds, we cut with 
a sharp scythe or sickle. The old plan 
was to let these tops dry and then when 
the wind is right set fire to one side and 
let the flame run over the field. I gave 
this up, as the burning hurt some of 
the plants. Others rake off the tops and 
burn in a pile. The object of burning 
is to destroy insects and disease germs 
on the leaves. On our younger beds, 
where we have not had these pests, cut 
the tops and let them remain on the 
ground. The subsequent treatment is to 
keep the weeds down and the runners 
cut off. On some of our beds we do this 
by cultivation and hoeing—using a horse 
and narrow cultivator one way. On 
this patch of 2,400 plants we do not 
expect to cultivate. There is a heavy 
coat of manure on the soil between the 
rows. Our plan is to pull weeds by hand 
before they go to seed, and lay them 
on the ground as a mulch—thus start¬ 
ing the second tops without stirring the 
soil. I would not advise a fertilizer 
high in nitrogen at this time. What 
you are after is a good set of fruit 
buds, and phosphoric acid and potash 
are most needed for that. There is a call 
for a new name for this system. Kevitt 
says he got his idea of it from a small 
patch which J. H. Hale showed at a 
Pomological Society meeting 10 years 
ago. The plan has been followed for 
many years. What is a good name for 
it? 
• Farm Notes. —As I write we are 
suffering from a fearful drought. It 
came suddenly, caused by a long suc¬ 
cession of dry winds. Except on the 
heavier soils, well stuffed with humus, 
crops are suffering. It is a great test 
for these tap-rooted trees. They are in 
a field where we sowed rye last Fall, 
and through mistakes and delays ne¬ 
glected to cut it this year. You know 
what it means to have rye go to grain in 
an orchard. The soil is sucked dry and 
hard as a rock, yet these tap-rooted trees 
are green and thriving, and the peaches 
are growing well. Another small or¬ 
chard of long-rooted trees in sod is 
light colored and suffering. . . .You 
ought to see the color of the corn where 
we plowed under the Crimson clover. 
No use talking, this "catch crop" plan 
shows itself more and more each year. 
You may not notice great results the 
first time trying, but keep at it and 
see. Our horses are traveling through 
the corn kicking up a cloud of dust 
and holding what moisture we have. 
. . . The air was hot and dry, but the 
wind kept blowing. It seemed a shame 
to have the lawn brown up, so we 
started the windmill, put a series of 
troughs under the pump and let the 
water run over the grass. The wind 
blew steadily and raised a flood of 
water from the well, yet we were sur¬ 
prised to see what a small part of the 
lawn was really soaked. I got my first 
lesson in irrigation, and realize how 
much moisture is required to soak things 
down. . . . The children formed a 
little company to handle the currant 
crop. They sold what they could as 
fresh fruit, and started jelly making 
with the rest. They put up their money 
and bought sugar and glasses, and while 
the boys picked, the girls made jelly. 
They have a good lot of it. and have al¬ 
ready taken orders enough to more than 
pay all expenses. This is a good trade 
in every way that I can see it. We find 
a fair demand for homemade pre¬ 
serves. It’s a good way to dispose of 
surplus fruits, and gives the children 
not only a good private business, but a 
good idea of general business. 
H. W. C. 
Paulownia imperialis; Lead Salts 
and Oil. —At times you have inquiries 
regarding the hardiness of certain 
plants, and it may be of interest to you 
to know that I have grown here for 
the past ten years two plants of_ the 
Paulownia imperialis. Every Winter 
with the exception of those of 1905 and 
1906, and 1908 and 1909, their Summer 
growth, which has generally exceeded 
10 feet, has been killed to the ground, 
and in the Winter of 1906 and 1907 the 
growth of the preceding Summer was 
also killed. Their roots, however, have 
apparently never been injured. It may 
also interest some, of .your readers to 
know that lead salts form with sap¬ 
onifying fate and oils an insoluble soap, 
which is a very sticky substance and 
difficult to remove from the plungers 
and cylinders of sprayers; therefore as 
a lubricator these oils should not be 
used with arsinate of lead. 
Connecticut. Joseph s. adam. 
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